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The Shohei Ohtani Tracker: Is your favorite team in or out?

Shohei Ohtani has told some MLB teams he won’t be signing with them. Others will get meetings. (AP)

The first cuts have come, as Japanese star Shohei Ohtani has told a number of Major League Baseball teams something to the effect of: “Thanks, but no thanks.”

On Sunday, word started to trickle out that Ohtani’s camp had eliminated some teams from the running. Among them, surprisingly, were the New York Yankees, as our Jeff Passan reported. The Yankees, many thought, had to be considered a favorite because, well, they’re the Yankees and playing in New York City is always a plus for a 23-year-old superstar-to-be. Alas, Ohtani reportedly prefers the West Coast, though not exclusively.

Since the reports are flying about who’s in and who’s out, we figured it best to put together this Shohei Ohtani tracker, so baseball fans can see which teams have moved on the next round and which teams are better off dipping into the rest of the free-agent market. Ohtani — nicknamed the “Japanese Babe Ruth” because he can throw 100 mph and hit homers — is reportedly preparing to meet this week with teams moved on to the next round. Scroll down to see who’s in, who’s out and who we haven’t heard about yet.

The most interesting thing about the Ohtani sweepstakes is that money is not a factor. Ohtani is leaving upward of $200 million on the table to sign with an MLB team before turning 25. By doing so, his contract falls under MLB’s international budget limits and thus, the team with the most to pay Ohtani is the Texas Rangers with $3.5 million. (Full list of budgets as we know them.) So Ohtani is making his decision based on other factors. His camp asked all interested teams to fill out a questionnaire that included their takes on his two-way abilities, how they’d help him adjust to life in the U.S. and what their medical and player-development plans are like. That’s what led to the first round of cuts. Ohtani has until Dec. 22 to make a decision.

Ohtani’s decision has come down to seven teams. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic has his final list:

To no one's surprise, the #Braves are out on Shohei Otani. The #Pirates are out even though they had the fourth biggest bonus pool at $2,266,750. While the #Rays are also out, they do have Brendan McKay in the pipeline. He's Louisville's Babe Ruth.